When surfaces are painted it is frequently necessary to mask adjacent areas to prevent undesired overspray. This is usually the case when repainting a repaired area of an automobile body. Typically, the required masking is provided by laying sheets of a suitable masking material, such as paper, on the surfaces to be protected, and securing them to the vehicle with masking tape. The masking tape and paper is used to define the perimeter of the area to be painted.
The conventional masking method using tape and paper has several disadvantages. The tape and paper are time consuming to apply. The excessive application time results in additional cost. Also, after the painting is complete, the tape and paper are removed and discarded. Discarding the materials after a single use is inefficient in the use of new materials and results in large quantities of used material that require disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,055, incorporated herein by reference, describes a paint masking assembly that provides a sheet of flexible masking material pre-cut into a shape required to mask a particular feature on a surface to be painted. The sheet of masking material is also pre-coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive at the edges. Although this paint masking assembly reduces the time required to apply the masking material, it is a single use material having the associated problems of inefficient use and waste disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,572, incorporated herein by reference, provides a general purpose masking material pre-coated with pressure sensitive adhesive at its edges. However, as with all methods that use an adhesive for attachment to the painted surface, it must be discarded after a single use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,774, incorporated herein by reference, describes a reusable magnetic masking article that is cut to a particular shape in order to protect a specific feature on a surface to be painted. These articles are designed to protect an interior region having a specific shape when the surrounding areas being painted. The articles, as described, do not provide a means for protecting a peripheral region of arbitrary shape from overspray.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,667, incorporated herein by reference, describes the use of an annular magnetic sheet with a fluid impervious sheet bonded to its surface to protect the flanged end of a pipe during transportation and during treatments such as painting. However, the article is specifically designed for annular surfaces and therefore, does not provide a general-purpose masking article or method.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,173 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,031, both incorporated herein by reference, describe the use of magnetic sheet materials to protectively mask door hinges during painting. In both cases, the magnetic material is cut to match the shape of a door hinge and is, therefore, specific to that application.
Transtech Services, Inc. provides magnetic strips for securing masking materials to automobile surfaces. However, the magnetic strip is not attached to the masking material and must be applied in the same manner as tape. This approach fails to provide an easy method of application.
Mag-Mask International, Inc. sells sets of four magnetic masking shields. The masking shields are large magnetic sheets having holes in the center to define the area to receive paint. Each of the four shields has a different diameter hole. A major disadvantage of this product is limited range of adjustment available for the size and shape of the area to be painted.
It is an object of the present invention to provide paint masking articles that may be applied quickly and easily.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide paint masking articles that may be used to define painted areas of various sizes and shapes.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide paint masking articles that are re-useable.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a paint masking method adapted to the paint masking articles of this invention.
The present invention is, in one aspect, a paint masking article comprising a flexible sheet of paint masking material, a flexible magnetic strip along one edge of the paint masking material and means for securing the magnetic strip to the masking material. In a preferred embodiment the magnetic strip is held within a fold at the edge of the masking material. The means for securing the magnetic strip to the masking material may be stitching, adhesives, or equivalents. Typically, the magnetic strip is about 20% shorter than the edge of the masking material to which it is attached. This provides extra paint masking material at the end of the magnetic strip so that the adjacent paint masking article can overlap, thereby ensuring continuous masking.
The present invention also provides a method for masking surfaces of ferromagnetic articles. Typically, four paint masking articles are applied to a surface to be painted in such a manner as to define a central area where paint is desired the edges of the paint masking articles are overlapped in order to provide continuous protection in peripheral areas where paint is not desired.